Stunt king Matt Hoffman flies Beachy Head

Stunt king Matt Hoffman flies Beachy Head Rob Chisholm has been running the Free Flight paragliding school in Brighton since 1994. He often receives e-mails from around the world asking for help in flying in the UK. In July top American stunt-bike rider Matt Hoffman, just landed at Gatwick, called to ask about flying. Matt, said to be the greatest ramp rider in the history of the sport, is also into skydiving, paramotoring and paragliding. At 9am the next day Rob and Matt headed for High and Over with some friends and a cameraman in tow. "It soon became very busy and I later had to apologise about Matt's grasp of airlaw", said Rob, "but after lunch conditions improved and I took some of Matt's friends up on a tandem. Later we headed to Beachy Head and Matt flew for well over an hour in smooth laminar air [a video of the flight is at www.freeflightbrighton.co.uk ]. One of the tandem passengers got talking with me about flying and then said, "Do you know what Hoffman is all about? Have a look on the web." When I looked up about Matt later I discovered he has some balls all right - being towed by a motor bike at 90km/h on a little BMX bike and flying 50ft into the air makes flying seem safe! I found Matt to be a normal guy with a passion for what he did and no different than any of us. He did not even mention his biking and what he had achieved, but in fact was just another person with a passion for adventure. It was nice to meet the guy and chat about why we do these crazy sports. The reason is simple - if flying was a religion you would have to be a believer to understand, and once you have been there you never stop believing. For me flying puts the biggest smile on my face, and this event with like-minded people made my job not work but just a walk in the park with new friends. The next day there was a book on my doorstep. It was a signed copy of The Ride of My Life, Matt's autobiography. Inside it said, 'Hey Rob, thanks for the memories and keeping us safe! Keep the dream alive! '

 

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